Ignoring Democratic requests to give the public a bigger chance to weigh in, a Republican-led House committee on Tuesday approved a proposed map redrawing Michigan's congressional districts.

The map would throw Democratic incumbent Reps. Sander Levin of Royal Oak and Gary Peters of Oakland County's Bloomfield Township into the same district and extend the border of Rep. John Conyers' 14th district for the first time beyond Eight Mile Road, which separates Detroit from its northern Oakland County suburbs.

It also would move Calhoun County from the 7th District to the 3rd, protecting GOP Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton from a rematch with his predecessor, Democrat Mark Schauer of Battle Creek, unless Schauer decided to move into the newly drawn district. The map also would add more GOP territory to the 1st District, where Republican Dan Benishek now holds the seat.

Michigan is losing a congressional seat after seeing its population decline in the 2010 census. Republicans have drawn maps that would allow them to keep the nine districts they hold while shrinking the number of Democratic districts from six to five, for a total of 14. Although they have until Nov. 1 to pass the redistricting maps, they plan to get the job done by July 1.

Democrats and several speakers testified Tuesday against the plan, both for what it does and for the speed at which it's becoming law. They were especially critical of carving Oakland County into four congressional districts and stretching both of the current congressional districts that include Detroit farther into the suburbs to pick up enough black voters to maintain black majorities. Detroit has lost a quarter of its population over the past decade.

The GOP-drawn map would extend the 14th District north from Detroit to Pontiac and include the Oakland County communities of Oak Park, Southfield, Farmington Hills and Orchard Lake, among others. The 13th District held by freshman Democratic Rep. Hansen Clarke would stretch from Detroit south to Ecorse and west to the cities of Westland, Wayne and Romulus.

"Never before in Michigan's history have districts zigged and zagged all over a large geographic region for partisan advantage," he said in written testimony, noting the 14th District now is over 50 miles long but less than a half-mile wide at some points. The 11th District now held by GOP Rep. Thaddeus McCotter "is literally only a few blocks wide at one point," he added.

Common Cause Michigan executive director Christina Kuo was among leaders of voter advocacy groups asking that citizens be given at least a month to study and comment on the maps before they're voted into law. None of the pleas swayed Republicans on the House Redistricting and Elections Committee, who voted 6-3 along partisan lines to send the map to the full House.

Republicans have the most control over the redistricting process because they hold the majority in the state House and state Senate. The GOP also has an edge on the Michigan Supreme Court if the plans wind up facing legal challenges.